Russia has tested an array of new strategic nuclear weapons that can’t be intercepted, President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday, marking a technological breakthrough that could dramatically increase Russia’s military capability, boost the Kremlin’s global position and open a new round in the global arms race.
Speaking in a state-of-the-nation speech, Mr. Putin said the weapons include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, a nuclear-powered underwater drone and new hypersonic missile that have no equivalent elsewhere in the world. He said the creation of the new weapons has made NATO’s U.S.-led missile defense “useless,” and means an effective end to what he described as Western efforts to stymie Russia’s development.
‘You have failed to contain Russia’
“I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country’s development — all what you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened,” he said. “You have failed to contain Russia.”
The announcement comes as Mr. Putin is set to easily win another six-year presidential term in the March 18 election.
The Russian leader said the high-speed underwater drone also has an “intercontinental” range and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could target both aircraft carriers and coastal facilities. He said its operational depth and high speed would make it immune to enemy intercept.
Mr. Putin noted that the tests of the compact nuclear reactor to power the new drone were completed last fall.
Mr. Putin accompanied his statement to an audience of hundreds of senior officials and lawmakers with videos and computer images of new weapons, which were shown on giant screens at a conference hall near the Kremlin.
“No one in the world has anything like that,” he said. “It may appear someday, but by that time we will develop something new.”
‘Like a meteorite, like a fireball’
The Russian leader said that another new weapon called Avangard is an intercontinental hypersonic missile that would fly to targets at a speed 20 times the speed of sound and strike “like a meteorite, like a fireball.”
Mr. Putin said that Russia also tested a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, called Sarmat, with a range and number of warheads exceeding its Soviet-era predecessor, known in the West as Satan.
The Russian leader emphasized that the development of new weapons that have no equivalent in the West came in response to the U.S. withdrawal from a Cold war-era treaty banning missile defenses and U.S. efforts to develop a missile defense system.
“No one has listened to us,” he said. “You listen to us now.”
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